Is Nvidia 3d Vision really worth it, or a gimmick?

[chelhxi]

Hey, I've been looking at getting the Asus VG236H with the Nvidia 3d vision kit, for $480 Canadian at my local Memory Express. For all you guys currently using 3d, is it really worth it? I've read all the reviews, and I also know that a review is never as useful as some unbiased opinions from fellow anandtechies.

Is it something that is really game changing, and you can't do without? Or do you use it for a month and put it away indefinately?

I've got a Core i7 950 at 4 ghz and a GTX 580, so I'm good to go for requirements.

 

[notty22]

You can try it out at your local Best Buy. They usually have a laptop setup with a running demo.
Also Crysis 2 supports 3d , Nvidia is involved with development.
http://3dvision-blog.com/some-impressions-from-the-stereo-3d-mode-in-crysis-2-multiplayer-demo/

 

[happy medium]

I suggest you go to your local Best buy type store and see for yourself. I think this is a personal user experience question. Most reviews I have see seem to like it though.
The future is 3d IMHO. We allready have 3d TV's, monitors, 3d vision, 3d Nintendo DS, 3d movies are becomming common also. I think when prices come down it will become more mainsteam.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Yes. I have the same monitor and I also have the 3d kit. It is awesome playing in 3d. I go back and forth. It is just as awesome seeing Battlefield BC2 in 2D running at 100fps.

And that 4ghz i7 and 580 ain't what ya think it is in terms of 3d play. Take your framerates and cut em in half and you have your 3d fps. I'm running my gtx 580 at 902mhz and 3D brings it to it's knees. I know your not at 900mhz on yours unless you have your reference at 100% fan speed.

 

[zerocool84]

I suggest you go to your local Best buy type store and see for yourself. I think this is a personal user experience question. Most reviews I have see seem to like it though.
The future is 3d IMHO. We allready have 3d TV's, monitors, 3d vision, 3d Nintendo DS, 3d movies are becomming common also. I think when prices come down it will become more mainsteam.

Yea pretty much every decent electronics store has a display kiosk to see how it is. Me personally I hate 3D of any kind but like you said it's all personal preference.

 

[SirPauly]

If one likes the idea of 3d movies at the cinema, one would probably like the idea of 3d for games. However, at the movies, things are pretty seamless, where with gaming, there may be some tweaking, patience and tolerances.

The first thing one may discover is an advanced setting called "convergence" and this really helps to work in conjunction with depth.

Some have read about the compatibility and some settings have to be turned down or off, but this isn't as bad as it seems because the added depth, really enhances, the part that isn't discussed much is CrossTalk. When accelerated gaming was in its infancy, it needed time to mature and evolve so tools could be offered to consumers and developers to add quality like Anti-aliasing and anisotropy; to try to curb artifacts. CrossTalk is an artifact to some levels of 3d stereo; as with aliasing, each individual may have different tolerance levels. By tweaking, one can help reduce this artifact and may depend on title, too.

Is 3d stereo a game changer? It depends on what person but it just makes sense to have the illusion of 3d instead of playing 3d on a 2d flat screen.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I dont do any of that. I enable 3d in the menu, put on the glasses, and play games. Looks good to me. When I want to play 2d I disable 3d in the menu. It's really been that simple.

 

[snuuggles]

Hey OFT, I've been following your progress on the 120hz/3d purchase. Besides the inevitable frame-rate reduction, are there any other real issues you've had with using 3d? For example, does it add noticable input lag, or... dunno, anything?

Also, I'm going to get the hn274h when it comes out, but I'm not sure what I need to upgrade. I have a q6600 cpu @3.2, and a gtx260. I was planning on getting the gtx570, but my understanding is that it simply won't give good frame-rates in 3d.

My question is, if I go for the 580, would the cpu then hold me back significantly? If so, I may just hold off on getting a new GPU until I can upgrade the whole machine to sandybridge or something.

I guess what I'm asking is how CPU limited is 3d vs GPU limited.

 

[Arkadrel]

are there any other real issues you've had with using 3d?

yes the way you precive 3D is by "tricking" your brain, Some people cant get this effect. (not sure what you call it but, their 3D blind). (something like 12% of all people are this)

Link to show its a real thing:
http://www.mediacollege.com/3d/depth-perception/stereoblind.html



So go to a theature and watch a 3D movie first, see if it works on you.

Its common to get tried eyes, headaches ect from even just watching 3D movies in theatures. Now imagine playing a game like this for many hours... Its not for everyone.

 

[happy medium]

yes the way you precive 3d is by "tricking" your brain, some people cant get this effect. (not sure what you call it but, their 3d blind). (something like 12% of all people are this)

link to show its a real thing:
http://www.mediacollege.com/3d/depth-perception/stereoblind.html



so go to a theature and watch a 3d movie first, see if it works on you.
Its common to get tried eyes, headaches ect from even just watching 3d movies in theatures. Now imagine playing a game like this for many hours... Its not for everyone.

how does 3d gaming effect you? What 3d setup do you have?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Snuggles
I think a 570 would be good for 3d. Just be prepared to drop down the resolution and drop the AA. But I've got to drop down even with the 580 and it still looks good. When I'm playing shooters it does seem a little harder to aim in 3d. I seem to play better in 2d. Not sure if cause of lag or what it is? While there are some negatives the positives far outweigh them. I'm really considering replaying some of my old games like oblivion and fallout 3 in 3d.
As far as being CPU limited with the 570 I think you'll be okay. Will you be utilizing your 570 100% probably not. I'm not sure how 3D affects CPU utilization. I never really tracked it. You could wait til you upgrade to a sandy bridge and then buy the 570 or you could just buy it and enjoy it even if your a little bottlenecked. I say get it and enjoy. My guess is you're probably working the gpu more in 3d and taking a little pressure off the CPU kinda like playing at really high resolutions when the CPU becomes less important. I don't have any data to back it up but just a guess.

 

[Seero]

Hey, I've been looking at getting the Asus VG236H with the Nvidia 3d vision kit, for $480 Canadian at my local Memory Express. For all you guys currently using 3d, is it really worth it? I've read all the reviews, and I also know that a review is never as useful as some unbiased opinions from fellow anandtechies.

Is it something that is really game changing, and you can't do without? Or do you use it for a month and put it away indefinately?

I've got a Core i7 950 at 4 ghz and a GTX 580, so I'm good to go for requirements.

There is nothing you can't do without 3D vision, the technology isn't there yet.

It is game changing.

Depends on the games you played, some you will not use it after 2 days, some you will play it in 3D until you ditch the game.

Like oilfield said, it does tax a lot. You can choose to play a game with 60 FPS without 3D, or 30 FPS with it. Some may think they can't see differences between 120FPS vs 60FPS, I do, which sometimes I have to set the game back to normal.

Bottom line, the tech works, and works really well on some games. Major games support it.

 

[Arkadrel]

how does 3d gaming effect you? What 3d setup do you have?

I like 3D movies, seen quite a few in theatures, but even 3D movies give me a headache by the time the movie is done usually, and my eyes are usually tired from it.

I dont own a 3D gameing setup, but I have been to see alot of 3D movies.

 

[SirPauly]

I dont do any of that. I enable 3d in the menu, put on the glasses, and play games. Looks good to me. When I want to play 2d I disable 3d in the menu. It's really been that simple.

You don't play around with Convergence? If not, you don't know what you're missing, it helps a lot, imho!

 

[notty22]

Over at the Nvidia blog, they made a announcement about their association and a contest with Iracing. It can be used with 3D vision also. I love racing games, and have not giving this much thought , as being any good. I'm going to give it a 2nd look.

About 3d vision : http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/03/sim-racing-shifts-into-high-gear-at-the-nvidia-cup/

“3D is the missing link,” says LaGrene. “It’s absolutely the closest thing to doing it for real. With 2D you know it’s a simulator. In 3D, the dash and instruments are so much closer. The window net looks like you could reach over and touch it. The 3D is all-encompassing, and the adrenaline gets pumping just like when it’s real.”

 

[Obsoleet]

It's a gimmick. Go to your local Fry's and check it out. You'll be less than impressed. :/

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

It's a gimmick. Go to your local Fry's and check it out. You'll be less than impressed. :/

Yeah cause you get the full experience in Fry's. Nevermind the blinding lighting in the store or the tard Fry's salesman breathing in your ear.

 

[Obsoleet]

I don't remember any blinding light or a salesman near me. I think the OP will find out the truth soon enough once he sees the glory that is Nvidia 3d vision in action.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I don't think it's a gimmick. It's just a question of is the cost worth it to you, do you not mind the glasses, not get headaches, etc. It's something I'd probably be interested in eventyall, but I'm hoping that someday sooner than later 3d displays hit the market. I also currently have a pretty big (27" 1920x1200) monitor, 120hz display options are still limited. I use my PC for productivity reasons as well as gaming, so I like my display for those other tasks, also. Anyway, I think it's a cool technology, it's just a 'is it worth it to me' type of thing.

 

[SirPauly]

I don't remember any blinding light or a salesman near me. I think the OP will find out the truth soon enough once he sees the glory that is Nvidia 3d vision in action.

Why exactly do you feel it was a gimmick?

 

[artvscommerce]

I think the glasses are worth it strictly for 3d video playback. It is absolutely incredible. And the 120hz monitor is nearly worth it for the increased smooth motion.

 

[vhx]

Gimmick. Just like Movies in 3D and Virtual Boy.

 

[notty22]

The Tron 3d blu ray will probably be incredible. Saw it in Imax, my first 3d movie experience (modern), Loved it. They are re-releasing The Star Wars saga in 3d blu ray. Now if they do the Matrix, I may have no choice

 

[SirPauly]

I don't think it's a gimmick. It's just a question of is the cost worth it to you, do you not mind the glasses, not get headaches, etc. It's something I'd probably be interested in eventyall, but I'm hoping that someday sooner than later 3d displays hit the market. I also currently have a pretty big (27" 1920x1200) monitor, 120hz display options are still limited. I use my PC for productivity reasons as well as gaming, so I like my display for those other tasks, also. Anyway, I think it's a cool technology, it's just a 'is it worth it to me' type of thing.

Everyone is different but I didn't receive tired eyes or a slight pulsation, 'till I tried to lower 120hz to 100hz, for investigation purposes, 50 hz per eye was uncomfortable, 55 hz wasn't and 60 wasn't per eye. Eyes differ though.

Also have a bigger screen, but the smaller screen offers more immersion right now based on the 3d stereo. The smaller screen seems larger because the added dimension of depth/separation and pop-out, when the 2d screens are limited to 2d space.

It isn't objective to compare a 2d screen to a 3d screen because they're totally different and the experience is totally different. I'm all for larger screens though but hopefully offer quality and 3d stereo, instead of being trapped to only a 2d choice.

I have trouble understanding things when gamers go on about how wonderful playing 3d games in a 2d flat world is some-how compelling. Why wouldn't someone desire to play a 3d game in a 3d world? I can understand waiting based on costs, desire it to mature, desire more innovation, less limitations but some of the hate, fears, excuse mongering, it doesn't change. There always seems to be resistance, dissension to some degree when trying to move forward and raise the bar. Jump to idealism and ignore the good that may get us there.

 

[nanaki333]

i have a 3dvision HTPC with 4 sets of glasses. i only use it for movies and it's fun.... but i really can't remember the last time i watched a 3d movie..